Black Alpine Sedge

The occurrence of Carex nigricans in Russia, although expected, is unconfirmed by specimens, according to T. V. Egorova (1999).

Plants loosely cespitose, mat-forming; rhizomes short, stout. Culms 5–30 cm. Leaves flat to the tip, (1.5–)2–4 mm wide. Pistillate scales reddish brown to black, lanceolate, as broad and as long as or slightly longer than perigynia, margins not hyaline or scarious, apex acute to acuminate. Perigynia ascending to spreading and deflexed at maturity, 3.8–4.1(–5) × 1–1.2 mm; beak dark brown to black, frequently as long as body of perigynium. Stigmas 3. 2n = 72.

Alta., B.C.; Alaska, Calif., Colo., Mont., Oreg., Utah, Wash., Wyo.

Fruiting Jul–Aug.

Moist meadows, mossy heaths, wet gravels of streams and snowbeds; 90–3400m.

Carex nigricans C. A. Meyer, M6m. Acad. St.-P6tersb Sav. Etr. 1: 211. pi. 7. 1831.
Carex pyrenaica var. majuscula Kurtz, Bot. Jahrh. 19: 415. 1894. (Type from Alaska.) Carex nigricans f. feminea Kneucker, Allg. Bot. Zeits. 17: 90. 1911. (Type from Mt. Adams, Washington.)
Loosely cespitose, the rootstocks creeping, lignescent, stout, brownish-black, scaly, the culms obtusely triangular, smooth, 0.5-3 dm. high, stifT, striate, usually strongly exceeding the leaves, dark-brown at base and clothed with the dried-up leaves of the previous year, the lowest bladeless; leaves about equally developed on both sterile and fertile culms, usually 4-9 with well-developed blades to the culm, inserted near the base, the blades 4-10 cm. long, 1.5-2 mm. wide, flat or canaliculate, roughened towards the attenuate apex, .shorter or longer than the culm, thickish, stifT, light-green, the sheath yellowish-tinged, trtmciite at apex, the ligule very short; spike solitiiry, androgynous, erect, oblong or oblong-ovoid, 8-15 mm. long, 6-9 mm. wide, densely many-flowered, the upper part staminate, tlie staniin;ite flowers conspicuous, the lower part pistillate; bracts none; staminate scales persistent, oblong or ovate, obtusish to acutish, reddish-brown with lighter raidvein and very narrow hyaline margins, in age straw-colored; pistillate scales similar, but dark-brown and wider, much shorter than the perig>'nia, deciduous; perigynia 20-50, conspicuously jointed to the rachis, at first closely appressed, at maturity deflexed and early breaking away from the rachis, compressedtriangular in cross-section, little inflated, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 3.5-4 mm. long, 11.5 mm. wide, nerveless, glabrous, shining, membranaceous, yellowish-brown or brownish, stipitate, the stipe 0.5 mm. long, rounded at base, tapering at apex into a smooth brown beak about 0.5 mm. long, with hyaline orifice, obliquely cut at maturity; achenes triangular, oblong-elliptic, 1.5-2 mm. long, 0.75 mm. wide, short-stipitate, strongly apiculate, yellowishbrown; style slender, jointed with achene, straight, deciduous; stigmas three, slender, elongate, brownish.
Type locality: "Habitat in Unalaschka."
Distribution: Sunny places in boreal or alpine localities in calcareous regions; Colorado to California, and northwestward to the Aleutian Islands and the Commander Islands off the Siberian Coast. (Specimens examined from Alberta, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, California, Oregon, Washington, Vancouver. British Columbia, Alaska.)

Carex nigricans is a species of sedge known by the common name black alpine sedge.